A few weeks back, my parents and I were about to take a trip. My mother had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so we were waiting for her to return so we could leave.

Suddenly my mother rushes in, calling loudly and frantically to my father and demanding to know where the cat was. My father, as perplexed as I was, replied that he was asleep on the window ledge in the spare bedroom. My mother instantly looked very relieved, although very pale.

Turns out that a cat had been hit by a car right in front of our house, and from what she could see, it looked a lot like our beloved kitty Cocoa. I had to make a run to the shops a while later, and... well, it wasn't pretty at all, and I could see why she'd mistaken it for our boy. We lost our other cat to old age about two years ago, and that was hard enough. My mother was nearly crying when she came into the house, and she was shaking when she hugged me in relief that it wasn't Cocoa.

We still don't know who the poor cat belonged to. If posters get put up, we're going to have to have a very distressing conversation with the owners...

As someone whose cat went missing 6 years ago and I still don't know if he is alive or dead the conversation might be distressing but it is much better then always wondering what happened. Although I did get three calls from people who said they ran over my cat (it was dark and I didn't see him and then he ran into the woods - I don't blame them for it and it took courage to call) and obviously they all couldn't have done it so it didn't help with the closure as much as actually having a body to verify it was him would be.

Noted. We'll keep an eye out for missing cat posters. Unfortunately there's about five houses in the immediate area that have black cats, so we can't really use detective work to figure out whose cat it was.

For scariest--this wasn't me, but my parents (and therefore where I grew up). There were some tornadoes last week. They attend church in one town (the one most heavily hit) and live in another ... it's one of those areas where the towns are so close that you don't leave built up area, so that's not unusual.

I don't know if it was the same one or not, but they were at church when the tornadoes came through. One passed a quarter mile from the church. After, they went home ... only to find out they couldn't (had to stop at the shelter which was in the grade school I had attended) because the tornado had hit three blocks from their house. Eventually, the police did let them walk home (impossible to drive), and so they did, not knowing until they got there if they had a house to walk home to.

Thankfully, their house was fine (they were, however, without power for a few days). Although around 1500 homes were destroyed/damaged too much for someone to live in, that's just property that can be replaced, and only one person lost his life.

And as if to show just how capricious a tornado can be--friends of my parents--their house was destroyed, but their wedding album showed up--undamaged--140 miles away.

Tornadoes do weird things. We had a little bitty F1 come through the back yard about 15 years ago. No major damage to us at all; it sucked out a window that was already cracked, took the top off the bird feeder and filled just one of the two compartments with dirt, and twisted the tops off the neighbor's trees and threw them in our yard. Lifted up, went about a quarter mile down the road, dropped down again and inflicted major damage on some houses under construction.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back when Dad was in HS, just a little after WWII, my Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle, and Great Aunt and Uncle bought a hobby farm out in Fulshur. One weekend they found a couple of guys squatting on the land. The guys claimed to have just been discharged from the army and were looking for jobs. The family hired them on.

Then the sheriff showed up to inform the family that the men were bankrobbers and had been arrested.

Mid 70's My Dad takes my scout troop down to the farm earn parts of a couple of wilderness badges, and learn how to make a campfire. We are up at the House, when we hear shooting down from the "lake". It was duck season, but Dad had cleared us being there with Uncle. The hunters in the family always make sure we all know when they are going to be there. Also they always park up by the house and walk to the duck or deer blinds. Dad gets the parents and girls into the house and takes me with him to the "lake" (Really a pond). We find a car we don't know and a man and son. They claim that Dad's Cousin Arthur gave them permission to go hunting. That is a bald faced lie. Arthur would NEVER let people go down hunting without him, his dad, or his son with them. Also everyone in the family knew the girl scout group was going to use the property. Dad orders them to leave, which they do. This Jerk calls Arthur to complain about Dad. Arthur and Daddy were the only boys on that side of the family and were thick as thieves. According to his wife Arthur told them off - which must have been interesting because in 40 odd years of life I've never had a conversation with the man that had more than 10 words on his part. He later told Dad - they were no longer his friends. Arthur is as strict about gun safety as Daddy and Uncle Jimmy. The idea these guys went down there when there were 20+ girls running around would have ticked him off.

Back in the 80's we were having trouble with kids from Rolling Oaks subdivision tearing up our property with ATV's. We had a cattle lease - the man that held it was named Lewis. One day during hunting season Lewis caught some of the boys running around on our property. They had their ATV's but were on foot in camo. Lewis told them to get off the property because they were tresspassing, besides it was hunting season and they could get shot - especially since Arthur and his son were scheduled to go deer hunting the around that time.

The kids went home - and somehow this turned into Lewis threatening to shoot them. Sheriff got involved. After some back and forth - no charges were filed against Lewis and the families were told to keep their kids off our property or they would be arrested for trespass. One of the Dads did NOT like that. His position was since no-one lived on the property it was public land and they could use it. The deputy had enough and told the Dad - This is Texas. If your kid is tresspassing, gets shot, and survives - the only one facing charges is YOUR KID. That family got served with formal paper work telling them to stay off our property.

Apparently My cousins were out there a few weeks ago. It got dark and they got run off the property by the wild hogs.

When I lived up in Montreal my sister came up to visit. We were I the dining room and wham, there was an earthquake. I turned to my sister to tell her that perhaps we should get out and there she was, under the dining room table. My apartment was on the 29th floor!

Same apartment. I'm sitting in the living room watching tv. Much to my shock, it's showing that the twin tower to the one I live in, one residential and one business, is on fire. REALLY on fire. I go to my window and look down but it's hard to see so I open it up and get hit with spray from the water canon. I packed up my cats and walked down 29 stories. Told the doorman that he might want to make an announcement. He assured me that the fire department had things well in hand and there was no need to evacuate the tower. Right. I went to a friends house for the night.

kherbert05 that last story belongs in the Ultimate SS thread! Talk about having a death wish - trespassing during Texas hunting season! We had some property in the middle of nowhere with a cabin amd our one full time neighbor told us to be sure to paint the front pooch pillars purple - evidently its a signal for people that is private and not a "rescue shelter" tyoe thing

A few weeks ago my eldest left to go hang out with some friends. About 10 mins after he left he called and told me to look out the windows, there's about 20 cop cars surrounding our neighborhood...I looked out and saw a few cars so I went into the garage to tell husband something was going on. He had been working out there all afternoon, but he wasn't there and the door was open. Walked into the back yard and saw some of my neighbors jumping back fences...it was really odd. Husband showed back up a bit later and explained some woman, obviously high on something, had broken into a neighbors house (on a Saturday afternoon!) while they were home. They ran her off and called the cops, but by that time she had been trying to get into several other houses and was darting through yards and such. Half of the neighborhood, my husband included, joined in the chase! After about 20 mins the combination of the police and the neighbors managed to surround her and she was arrested and taken away. Very strange afternoon!

I used to do martial arts in the evening twice a week, so one day I'm on my way back. The bus stop was on a high street, and my house was just around the corner. In order to get there, you had to cross a crossroads.

As I'm waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green, I hear yelling behind me, and a man absolutely SPRINTS around the corner, running down the road. He careens across the road, to where there were several businesses, and then VAULTS a fence, using it to get up onto the roof of one of the businesses and then out of sight. This all happened in about 15 seconds, I barely had time to register it.

THEN, a police officer sprints into view as well, clearly having been in pursuit of the first man. I just pointed in the correct direction, and got a nod of thanks. Never saw either man again, or found out what the first had done.

A few weeks ago my dh was working in the yard when I heard a few gun shots. Knowing that he didn't have a reason to have the gun outside (note: we live in the country.) I looked outside. I figured it was guys down the road doing target practice, no big deal. About 10 minutes later, my husband came inside to tell me the guy next door was reaching for his garden hose when it moved. He had two cotton mouths coiled up next to the garden hose, retrieved his gun and shot them. I'm sure I stood on the chair while he told the story.

Not going to click on this as I'm coming off a migraine because of flashing lights on the TV, but is this the one where they have Vegas-style lights that flash in time to LOUD Xmas music? If they were my neighbors, I'd bill them for the hotel that I'd have to move into for the month of December.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't click on the video - just looked at the pics...oh, my, goodness...that is horrific!! It isn't even pretty or creative, it just looks like reindeer came through and threw up Christmas lights. Not a good look at all; and yes, if they were my neighbors, I'd definitely be not speaking to them. I'm all for people being allowed to decorate their homes as they like (yes, I'm speaking to my neighbors across the street who used an oil based paint for the trimming of their house and it is hideous), but that just goes too far.

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"The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones" - Solomon ibn Gabirol

Not going to click on this as I'm coming off a migraine because of flashing lights on the TV, but is this the one where they have Vegas-style lights that flash in time to LOUD Xmas music? If they were my neighbors, I'd bill them for the hotel that I'd have to move into for the month of December.

It's not that one--I've seen that too and it's ... quite something--but it is even more astonishing. It does have a video but you have to click it to get it to start. You don't need to, though. The still pictures are beyond belief. I'm not sure there's any design in there, just lights. Thirty-one miles' worth. What especially galls me about the story is that the local electricity company decided to "donate" (on the backs of their other customers) the 1,400-pound bill the lights will use in December. Nothing says good will like forcing your neighbors to bear not only the lights and the horrendous noise but part of the bill as well. HoHoHo.